By Bill Diercksen, Senior Vice President, Disney Vacation Club & Aulani
The 2009 opening of The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa marked a major milestone for Disney Vacation Club – our first resort West of the Mississippi. In a big win for our magical community, the addition of villas to that California Craftsman masterpiece fulfilled Members’ wish for villa-style accommodations at Disneyland Resort.
As proud as we were – and are – of those warmly welcoming villas, their limited number make The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa the smallest Disney Vacation Club Resort in our portfolio, and we’ve always dreamed of doing more in this very special place. Fast forward to 2023, and we’re thrilled to do just that with more big wins for Members at the Disney destination that started it all.
This spring, we were “over the moon” with excitement as we officially opened Disney Vacation Club Star View Station – A Member Lounge in the heart of Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park. It’s the first Member Lounge at Disneyland Resort, and more than just a place to relax, it’s a “space” to explore. Disney Imagineers have layered the lounge with art and artifacts inspired by Walt Disney’s optimistic futurism, and the response has been tremendous. If you haven’t visited the lounge yet, or if you’ve visited but haven’t heard all the back stories, you’ll want to check out the Star View Station feature in the pages ahead, as it’s filled with fun facts and first looks.
And speaking of excitement for the future, we’re now just a few months away from our biggest Disneyland development yet – the planned opening of The Villas at Disneyland Hotel! Inspired by the art and artists of Disney Animation, this new Disney Vacation Club Resort will invite more Members than ever to call Disneyland Resort “home.” The pages ahead offer a sneak peek inside the new tower’s spectacular Grand Villas, and you’ll see more of the resort’s broad range of accommodations in the next edition of this magazine as we celebrate its grand opening.
These new Disney Vacation Club destinations – coupled with the continual refreshment of existing resorts (read the latest refurbishment updates in this magazine’s “Hard Hat Report”) – are key pillars of our ongoing commitment to Membership Magic
So whether your upcoming vacation plans lead you to California or Florida, Hawai‘i or South Carolina, across the sea or out into “space,” all of us at Disney Vacation Club look forward to welcoming you “home.” And like our company’s founder, we believe the best is always yet to come.
Dec. 7 Condominium Association Meeting: Watch disneyvacationclub.com for additional details for the annual condominium association meeting for all condominium associations, scheduled to take place on Dec. 7 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.